Mumtaz Mahal was born Arjumand Banu Begum in Agra to a family of Persiannobility. She was the daughter of Abu'l-Hasan Asaf Khan, a wealthy Persian noble who held high office in the Mughal Empire, and the niece of Empress Nur Jahan, the chief wife of Emperor Jahangir and the power behind the emperor.[5] She was married at the age of 19 on 30 April 1612 to Prince Khurram,[6] later known by his regnal name Shah Jahan, who conferred upon her the title "Mumtaz Mahal" (Persian: the exalted one of the palace).[7] Although betrothed to Shah Jahan since 1607,[8] she ultimately became his second wife in 1612.[9][10] Mumtaz and her husband had fourteen children, including Jahanara Begum (Shah Jahan's favourite daughter),[11] and the Crown prince Dara Shikoh, the heir-apparent,[12] anointed by his father, who temporarily succeeded him, until deposed by Mumtaz Mahal's sixth child, Aurangzeb, who ultimately succeeded his father as the sixth Mughal emperor in 1658.[13]

Mumtaz Mahal died in 1631 in Burhanpur, Deccan (present-day Madhya Pradesh), during the birth of her fourteenth child, a daughter named Gauhar Ara Begum.[14] Shah Jahan had the Taj Mahal built as a tomb for her, which is considered to be a monument of undying love.

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Mumtaz Mahal was born as Arjumand Banu on 27 April 1593[15] in Agra to Abu'l-Hasan Asaf Khan[8] and his wife Diwanji Begum, the daughter of a Persian noble, Khwaja Ghias-ud-din of Qazvin.[16] Asaf Khan was a wealthy Persian noble who held high office in the Mughal Empire. His family had come to India impoverished in 1577, when his father Mirza Ghias Beg (popularly known by his title of I'timad-ud-Daulah),[17] was taken into the service of Emperor Akbar in Agra.[5]

Asaf Khan was also the older brother of Empress Nur Jahan, making Mumtaz a niece, and later, a step daughter-in-law of Nur Jahan, the chief consort of Emperor Jahangir, Shah Jahan's father.[18] Her older sister, Parwar Khanum, married Sheikh Farid, the son of Nawab Qutubuddin Koka, the governor of Badaun, who was also the emperor Jahangir's foster brother.[19] Mumtaz also had a brother, Shaista Khan, who served as the governor of various provinces in the empire during Shah Jahan's reign.[20]

Mumtaz was remarkable in the field of learning and was a talented and cultured lady.[21] She was well-versed in Arabic and Persian languages and could compose poems in the latter.[22][21] She was reputed to have a combination of modesty and candor, a woman warmly straightforward yet bemusedly self-possessed. Early in adolescence, she attracted the attention of important nobles of the realm. Jahangir must have heard about her, since he readily consented to Shah Jahan's engagement with her.[23]

Mumtaz Mahal was betrothed to Shah Jahan around 30 January 1607,[6] when she was 14 years old at the time and he was 15. They were, however, married five years after the year of their betrothal on 30 April 1612 in Agra.[6] The marriage was a love-match.[24] After their wedding celebrations, Shah Jahan, "finding her in appearance and character elect among all the women of the time", gave her the title "Mumtaz Mahal" Begum ("the Exalted One of the Palace").[25][26] During the intervening years between their betrothal and marriage, Shah Jahan had married his first wife, Princess Kandahari Begum in 1609 and in 1617, after marrying Mumtaz, took a third wife, Izz-un-Nissa Begum (titled Akbarabadi Mahal),[27] the daughter of a prominent Mughal courtier.[28][29] According to the official court historians, both the marriages were political alliances.[28]

By all accounts, Shah Jahan was so taken with Mumtaz that he showed little interest in exercising his polygamous rights with his two other wives, other than dutifully siring a child with each.[30] According to the official court chronicler, Motamid Khan, as recorded in his Iqbal Namah-e-Jahangiri, the relationship with his other wives "had nothing more than the status of marriage. The intimacy, deep affection, attention and favour which Shah Jahan had for Mumtaz exceeded what he felt for his other wives."[26][31] Likewise, Shah Jahan's historian Inayat Khan commented that 'his whole delight was centered on this illustrious lady [Mumtaz], to such an extent that he did not feel towards the others [i.e. his other wives] one-thousandth part of the affection that he did for her.'[32]

Mumtaz had a loving marriage with Shah Jahan. Even during her lifetime, poets would extol her beauty, grace, and compassion. Despite her frequent pregnancies, Mumtaz travelled with Shah Jahan's entourage throughout his earlier military campaigns and the subsequent rebellion against his father. She was his constant companion and trusted confidant, leading court historians to go to unheard lengths to document the intimate and erotic relationship the couple enjoyed. In their nineteen years of marriage, they had fourteen children together (eight sons and six daughters),[32] seven of whom died at birth or at a very young age.[14]

Upon his accession to the throne in 1628,[33] Shah Jahan designated Mumtaz as his chief empress with the title of 'Malika-i-Jahan' ("Queen of the World")[6] and 'Malika-uz-Zamani' ("Queen of the Age").[34] Mumtaz's tenure as empress was brief, spanning a period of only three years due to her untimely death, nonetheless Shah Jahan bestowed her with luxuries that no other empress was given before her. For example, no other empress' residence was as decorated as Khas Mahal (part of Agra Fort), where Mumtaz lived with Shah Jahan. It was decorated with pure gold and precious stones and had rose-water fountains of its own. Each wife of the Mughal emperor was given a regular monthly allowance for her gastos (housekeeping or travelling expenses); the highest such allowance on record is the one million rupees per year given to Mumtaz Mahal by Shah Jahan.[35]

Shah Jahan consulted Mumtaz in both private matters and the affairs of the state, and she served as his close confidant and trusted adviser. At her intercession, he forgave enemies or commuted death sentences.[36] His trust in her was so great that he gave her the highest honour of the land – his imperial seal, the Mehr Uzaz,[37] which validated imperial decrees.[38] Mumtaz was portrayed as having no aspirations to political power, in contrast to her aunt, Empress Nur Jahan, the chief consort of Emperor Jahangir, who had wielded considerable influence in the previous reign.[39]

A great influence on him, often intervening on behalf of the poor and destitute, she also enjoyed watching elephant and combat fights[clarification needed] performed for the court. Mumtaz also patronized a number of poets, scholars and other talented persons. A noted Sanskrit poet, Vansidhara Mishra, was the Empress's favourite.[21] On the recommendation of her principal lady-in-waiting, Sati-un-Nissa, Mumtaz Mahal provided pensions and donations to the daughters of poor scholars, theologians, and pious men.[40] It was quite common for women of noble birth to commission architecture in the Mughal Empire, so Mumtaz devoted some time to a riverside garden in Agra, which is now known as Zahara Bagh. It is the only architectural foundation which can be connected to her patronage.[41]

A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Taj Mahal is the final resting place of Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan.

Mumtaz Mahal died from postpartum hemorrhage in Burhanpur on 17 June 1631[42] while giving birth to her fourteenth child, after a prolonged labor of approximately 30 hours.[14][15] She had been accompanying her husband while he was fighting a campaign in the Deccan Plateau. Her body was temporarily buried at Burhanpur in a walled pleasure garden known as Zainabad originally constructed by Shah Jahan's uncle Daniyal on the bank of the Tapti River.[43] The contemporary court chroniclers paid an unusual amount of attention to Mumtaz Mahal's death and Shah Jahan's grief at her demise. In the immediate aftermath of his bereavement, the emperor was reportedly inconsolable.[44] Apparently after her death, he went into secluded mourning for a year.[44] When he appeared again, his hair had turned white, his back was bent, and his face worn.[45] Mumtaz's eldest daughter, Jahanara Begum, gradually brought her father out of grief and took her mother's place at court.[46]

Mumtaz Mahal's personal fortune (valued at ten million rupees) was divided by Shah Jahan between Jahanara Begum, who received half and the rest of her surviving children.[47] Burhanpur was never intended by her husband as his wife's final resting spot. As a result, her body was disinterred in December 1631 and transported in a golden casket escorted by her son Shah Shuja and the deceased empress's head lady-in-waiting back to Agra.[48] There it was interred in a small building on the banks of the Yamuna River. Shah Jahan stayed behind in Burhanpur to conclude the military campaign that had originally brought him to the region. While there, he began planning the design and construction of a suitable mausoleum and funerary garden in Agra for his wife. It was a task that would take 22 years to complete: the Taj Mahal.[49]

Tomb of Mumtaz Mahal in the Taj Mahal, alongside her husband Shah Jahan.

The Taj Mahal was commissioned by Shah Jahan to be built as a mausoleum for Mumtaz Mahal. It is seen as an embodiment of undying love and marital devotion. English poet Sir Edwin Arnold describes it as "Not a piece of architecture, as other buildings are, but the proud passion of an emperor's love wrought in living stones." The beauty of the monument is also taken as a representation of Mumtaz Mahal's beauty and this association leads many to describe the Taj Mahal as feminine.[50] Since Muslim tradition forbids elaborate decorations on graves, the bodies of Mumtaz and Shah Jahan are placed in a relatively plain crypt beneath the inner chamber with their faces turned to the right and towards Mecca.[51]

The Ninety Nine Names of God are found as calligraphic inscriptions on the sides of the tomb of Mumtaz Mahal in the crypt including, "O Noble, O Magnificent, O Majestic, O Unique, O Eternal, O Glorious…".[52] There are many theories about the origin of the name of this tomb and one of them suggests that 'Taj' is an abbreviation of the name Mumtaz. European travelers, such as François Bernier, who observed its construction, were among the first to call it the Taj Mahal. Since it is unlikely that they came up with the name, it is suggested that they might have picked it up from the locals of Agra who called the Empress 'Taj Mahal' and thought the tomb was named after her and the name began to be used interchangeably. However, there is no firm evidence to suggest this. Shah Jahan had not intended to entomb another person in the Taj Mahal;[53] however, Aurangzeb had Shah Jahan buried next to the tomb of Mumtaz Mahal rather than build a separate tomb for his father.[54][55] This is evident from the asymmetrical placement of Shah Jahan's grave on one side of his wife's grave which is in the centre.[56][57]

Arjumand Banu (Mumtaz Mahal) is a principal character in Indu Sundaresan's novel The Feast of Roses (2003) and its sequel, Shadow Princess (2010), begins with her death.[59]

Mumtaz Mahal is a main character in Sonja Chandrachud's novel Trouble at the Taj (2011). She appears in the book as a ghost.[60]

In John Shors' novel Beneath a Marble Sky (2013), Mahal's daughter, Princess Jahanara, tells the extraordinary story of how the Taj Mahal came to be, describing her own life as an agent in its creation and as a witness to the fateful events surrounding its completion.[61]

Shah Jahan's favourite and most influential daughter. Jahanara became the First Lady (Padshah Begum) of the Mughal Empire after her mother's death, despite the fact that her father had three other consorts. She died unmarried.

The eldest son and heir-apparent. He was favoured as a successor by his father, Shah Jahan, and his elder sister, Princess Jahanara Begum, but was defeated and later killed by his younger brother, Prince Muhiuddin (later the Emperor Aurangzeb), in a bitter struggle for the imperial throne. He married and had issue.

^ abFrank W. Thackeray; John E. Findling, eds. (2012). Events that formed the modern world: from the European Renaissance through the War on Terror. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. p. 254. ISBN9781598849011.

^Ball, Valentine (2007). Tavernier's travels in India between years 1640–1676 : being a narrative of the six voyages of Jean-Baptiste Tavernier to the east – especially to India, translated from the original French edition of 1676, with a biographical sketch of the author, notes, appendices, & c. (2nd ed.). New Delhi: Asian Educational Services. p. 245. ISBN9788120615670.

^Sharma, Sudha (2016). The Status of Muslim Women in Medieval India. India: SAGE Publications. ISBN9789351505655. Mumtaz Mahal was equally adept in Persian and Arabic as well as in writing poetry, besides being a patron of the learned and scholars.

^Sarker, Kobita (2007). Shah Jahan and his paradise on earth : the story of Shah Jahan's creations in Agra and Shahjahanabad in the golden days of the Mughals (1. publ. ed.). Kolkata: K.P. Bagchi & Co. p. 38. ISBN9788170743002.

^ abcdeSarker, Kobita (2007). Shah Jahan and his paradise on earth : the story of Shah Jahan's creations in Agra and Shahjahanabad in the golden days of the Mughals (1. publ. ed.). Kolkata: K.P. Bagchi & Co. p. 40. ISBN9788170743002.